Federal Opposition Leader Tony Abbott got lost in the central Australian outback and was forced to send a text message to his press secretary: "WERELOSTNEARFOSSILCREEK", Fairfax reported.
As part of Mr Abbott's four-day tour of the Northern Territory, he has already spent time in Alice Springs and met with locals at some of the town camps.
Just before lunchtime yesterday, Mr Abbott had set off with a small party on "quad" four-wheeled motor bikes to ride deep into Watarrka country in search of Aboriginal sacred sites, The Sydney Morning Herald reported.
They left on quad bikes at 11:00am for a tour of local sacred sites.
They encountered mechanical problems, and after trying unsuccessfully to get a satellite phone to make a voice call, Mr Abbott tried sending a text to the only mobile phone number he could remember, that of his press secretary Claire Kimball back in Canberra.
The text, which failed to transmit, said "WERELOSTNEARFOSSILCREEK" -- as no one could work out how to put spaces between words.
Mr Abbott and his group arrived back at the truck which had taken them into Watarrka country at 9.20 pm, having been lost for five hours.
They were tired, hungry and covered in red dirt.
